Originally published in 1973, the history of French tragedy and tragicomedy from their origins in the sixteenth century to the last years of Louis XIV's reign is here surveyed in a single volume. Beginning with a brief account of the development of drama from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, Dr Brereton examines the plays as types of drama, the circumstances in which they were produced and their reception by contemporaries. The traditionally great figures of Corneille and Racine are treated at some length, but their work is seen in perspective against the plays of their predecessors and of their own time. Garnier and Montchrestien are discussed, among others, as notable writers of Renaissance humanist tragedy. Sections are devoted to secondary but still important dramatists such as Mairet, Rotrou, Du Ryer, Tristan L'Hermite, Thomas Corneille and Quinault. A long chapter on Alexandre Hardy reviews the work of this neglected author and stresses his interest as a transitional link between the two centuries and as a vigorous pioneer of a type of drama which flourished for several decades after him concurrently with French 'classical' tragedy. The main currents of critical theory, social attitudes and stage history are described in their relation to the development of the drama. Well over a hundred plays are discussed or summarized; and the author has constantly referred back to the original material and has avoided an over-simplification of a vast subject which contains more exceptions and anomalies than has generally been recognized in the past. Chronological tables of the works of major dramatists, summaries of numerous plays and a bibliography containing modern editions of plays are included.

These essays of Sarah Carpenter have been selected to reflect her career's close focus on the relationship of performance and audience. They are drawn from the last 25 years of her writing, and this has enabled the editors to organise them not chronologically but rather to develop her central theme through a range of genres, including morality plays, the interlude, court entertainments, international political spectacle, and the public 'performances' of natural and maintained fools. As a scholar who also has experience of acting and of production, Carpenter is particularly sensitive to the implications of location for creating meaning and generating audience reaction. The essays are focused on a relatively short time-span of 120 years, from the late fifteenth to the turn of the seventeenth century, and thus nuance a period traditionally divided between the late medieval and the early-modern, and between Catholicism and Protestantism. Carpenter shows how the dynamics of theatrical engagement in which the roles of audience and performer are frequently mixed or even reversed offer a more creative route to understanding how the individual and society respond to change. (CS1090)

Originally published in 1949 this book is a study of comedy based on representative works of drama and narrative, mainly in English, from Chaucer to Bernard Shaw. The theme is that comedy implies a philosophy of life that is fairly constant, despite the changes in social conditions and fashions of thought. There is a bibliographical index and the book is illustrated fully and widely by quotations from English comic writers.

FOLGER Shakespeare Library: the world's leading center for Shakespeare studies.

Each edition includes:
- Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
- Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
- Scene-by-scene plot summaries
- A key to famous lines and phrases
- An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language
- An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
- Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare

This book explores how the pregnant body is portrayed, perceived and enacted in Shakespeare's and his contemporaries' drama by means of a phenomenological analysis and a recourse to early modern popular medical discourse on reproduction. Phenomenology of pregnancy is a fairly new and radical body of philosophy that questions the post-Cartesian chasm of an almost autonomous reason and an enclosed and self-sufficient (male) body as foundations of identity. Early modern drama, as is argued, was written and staged at the backdrop of revolutionary changes in medicine and science where old and new theories on the embodied self-clashed. In this world where more and more men were expected to steadily grow isolated from their bodies, the pregnant body constituted an embattled contradiction. Indebted to the theories of embodiment this book offers a meticulous and detailed investigation of a plethora of pregnant characters and their "pregnant embodiment" in the pre-modern works by Shakespeare, Middleton, Webster and Ford. The analysis in each chapter argues for an indivisible link between an intensely embodied experience of pregnancy as enacted in space and identity-shaping processes resulting in a more acute sense of selfhood and agency. Despite seemingly disparate experiences of the selected heroines and the repeated attempts at containment of their "unruly" bodies, the ever transforming and "spatial" pregnant identities remain loci of embodied selfhood and agency. This book provocatively argues that fictional characters' experience reflects tangible realities of early modern women, while often deflecting the scientific consensus on reproduction in the period.

feminist approaches to Shakespeare by foregrounding the important role of women in showing the right way to live and achieve happiness. timely criticism, as it considers Shakespeare in the current context of the #MeToo movement providing new insights to studies of the emotions by approaching them from the perspective of research conducted by positive psychologists.

First published in 1968. Providing a detailed and rigorous analysis of Richard III, this Commentary reveals every nuance of meaning whilst maintaining a firm grasp on the structure of the play. The result is an outstanding lesson in the methodology of Shakespearian criticism as well as an essential study for students of the early plays of Shakespeare.

This book examines the French theatricalization of India from 1770 to 1865 and how a range of plays not only represented India to the French viewing public but also staged issues within French culture including colonialism, imperialism, race, gender, and national politics. Through examining these texts and available performance history, and incorporating historical texts and cultural theory, David Hammerback analyses these works to illustrate a complex of cultural representations: some contested Orientalism, some participated in Western colonialist discourses, while some can be placed somewhere between these two markers of ideology in Western culture and the arts. He also assesses the works which participated in shaping the theatrical face of Western hegemony, ones directly participating in Orientalism as delineated by Edward Said and others. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in theatre, French literature, history and cultural studies.

In a desperate attempt to bring some spark back to their all-too-cosy married life, professional millennials Michael and Phil switch a sherry on the couch for a night on the town. Their goal: to get in with Generation Z by trying to get off with one. Enter fit, sexy, confident Quasim. But the 'just for one night' adventure brings shocking revelations as Michael and Phil discover more about the 20-year-old boy in their bed than they ever wanted to know, and their suburban dream is shaken to its core. Following the sold out runs of critical hits Undetectable (nominated for 3 Off West End Awards) and My Dad's Gap Year (nominated for 4 Off West End Awards), Tom Wright's darkly comedic and wildly sexy new play is his most provocative show to date.

Shakespeare in Singapore provides the first detailed and sustained study of the role of Shakespeare in Singaporean theatre, education, and culture. This book tracks the role and development of Shakespeare in education from the founding of modern Singapore to the present day, drawing on sources such as government and school records, the entire span of Singapore's newspaper archives, playbills, interviews with educators and theatre professionals, and existing academic sources. By uniting the critical interest in Singaporean theatre with the substantial body of scholarship that concerns global Shakespeare, the author overs a broad, yet in-depth, exploration of the ways in which Singaporean approaches to Shakespeare have been shaped by, and respond to, cultural work going on elsewhere in Asia. A vital read for all students and scholars of Shakespeare, Shakespeare in Singapore offers a unique examination of the cultural impact of Shakespeare, beyond its usual footing in the Western world.

This book considers early modern and postmodern ideals of health, vigor, ability, beauty, well-being, and happiness, uncovering and historicizing the complex negotiations among physical embodiment, emotional response, and communally-sanctioned behavior in Shakespeare's literary and material world. The volume visits a series of questions about the history of the body and how early modern cultures understand physical ability or vigor, emotional competence or satisfaction, and joy or self-fulfillment. Individual essays investigate the purported disabilities of the "crook-back" King Richard III or the "corpulent" Falstaff, the conflicts between different health-care belief-systems in The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, the power of figurative language to delineate or even instigate puberty in the Sonnets or Romeo and Juliet, and the ways in which the powerful or moneyed mediate the access of the poor and injured to cure or even to care. Integrating insights from Disability Studies, Health Studies, and Happiness Studies, this book develops both a detailed literary-historical analysis and a provocative cultural argument about the emphasis we place on popular notions of fitness and contentment today.

Reading Shakespeare through Philosophy advocates that the beauty of Shakespearean drama is inseparable from its philosophical power. Shakespeare's plays make demands on us even beyond our linguistic attention and historical empathy: they require thinking, and the concepts of philosophy can provide us with tools to aid us in that thinking. This volume examines how philosophy can help us to re-imagine Shakespeare's treatment of individuality, character, and destiny, particularly at certain moments in a play when a character's relationship to space or time becomes an enigma to us. The author focuses on the dramatization of seemingly magical relationships between the individual and the cosmos, exploring and rethinking the meanings of 'individual', 'cosmos' and 'magic' through a conceptually acute reading of Shakespeare's plays. This book draws upon a variety of thinkers including Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz and Kant, in search of a revitalized philosophical criticism of Julius Caesar, Love's Labor's Lost, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Twelfth Night.

The clocks are set. The line is drawn. They've got a chance to be champions. But at what cost? When Ann joins Sophie's running club she's thrown into a world of regimented training and pure focus. The two girls couldn't be more different, but soon their shared passion makes them inseparable - dreaming in lanes and lap-times, waking up picturing Olympic medals, each day stronger and faster... But set head to head in the run up to the World Championships, they find themselves and their friendship put to the ultimate test. As their relationships, their bodies and their very identities are pulled into public scrutiny, does being exceptional come at too high a price? A gripping exploration of the underside of women's athletics, Fair Play is the new work from Ella Road (The Phlebotomist) - 'the most promising young playwright in Britain' (The Telegraph). This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Bush Theatre, London, in December 2021.

This book offers a new, accurate and actable translation of one of Euripides' most popular plays, together with a commentary which provides insight into the challenges it sets for production and suggestions for how to solve them. The introduction discusses the social and cultural context of the play and its likely impact on the original audience, the way in which it was originally performed, the challenges which the lead roles present today and Medea's implications for the modern audience. The text of the translation is followed by the 'Theatrical Commentary' section on the issues involved in staging each scene and chorus today, embodying insights gained from a professional production. Notes on the translation, a glossary of names, suggestions for further reading and a chronology of Euripides' life and times round out the volume. The book is intended for use by theatre practitioners who wish to stage or workshop Medea and by students both of drama, theatre and performance and of classical studies.

This collection of three plays for young performers from multi-award-winning playwright Rory Mullarkey offers astutely relevant and powerfully theatrical pieces of drama. Each offering large and flexible casts for non-gender specific performers, they are perfect for performances and study by young performers aged 13-23. Presented in the style of eloquent contemporary verse, Flood explores the consequences of global warming and salvaging hope in the midst of despair. The play was originally commissioned by National Youth Theatre and was performed at Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation in 2018. The Grandfathers explores the personal experience of warfare and what it takes to train to fight for your country. The play was first performed as part of National Theatre Connections, 2012, before being revived at Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre's Shed. Through a collection of vignettes, On The Threshing Floor captures the speed, strangeness and confusion of living through pivotal moments of history. The play premiered at Hampstead Theatre and uses a large ensemble cast exploring themes of work, government and society. Popular with drama schools, youth groups and young people, this collection provides an excellent resource for those looking for large-scale and flexible plays to produce, perform and study.

Macbeth Is A Play That Is "Rich In Ambiguities And Ambivalence" Seen By Some Critics As "Over-Praised And Others As The "Greatest" Of Shakespeare's Plays. Matt Simpson Places The Play In The Time Of Its Creation, But Focuses Principally On The Dramatic Moral And Psychological Terrors That Are Its Driving Force. It Is A Portrayal Of The Complex Threads Of Ethical Responsibility And Of How Evil Comes About. Matt Simpson Is The Author Of Shakespeare's Othello In This Series And Is A Poet And Critic.

Yerma (meaning 'Barren') is one of three tragic plays about peasants and rural life that make up Lorca's 'rural trilogy'. It is possibly Lorca's harshest play following a woman's Herculean struggle against the curse of infertility. The woman's barrenness becomes a metaphor for her marriage in a traditional society that denies women sexual or social equality. Her desperate desire for a child drives her to commit a terrible crime at the end of the play. This Student Edition comes complete with a full introduction; plot synopsis; commentary on characters, context and themes; bibliography; chronology, and questions for study.

Rome was tantamount to its ruins, a dismembered body, to the eyes of those - Italians and foreigners - who visited the city in the years prior to or encompassing the lengthy span of the Renaissance. Drawing on the double movement of archaeological exploration and creative reconstruction entailed in the humanist endeavour to 'resurrect' the past, 'ruins' are seen as taking precedence over 'myth', in Shakespeare's Rome. They are assigned the role of a heuristic model, and discovered in all their epistemic relevance in Shakespeare's dramatic vision of history and his negotiation of modernity. This is the first book of its kind to address Shakespeare's relationship with Rome's authoritative myth, archaeologically, by taking as a point of departure a chronological reversal, namely the vision of the 'eternal' city as a ruinous scenario and hence the ways in which such a layered, 'silent', and aporetic scenario allows for an archaeo-anatomical approach to Shakespeare's Roman works.

In this lucid and original study, first published in 1972, Ralph Berry discusses the ten comedies that run from The Comedy of Errors to Twelfth Night. Berry's purpose is to identify the form of each play by relating the governing idea of the play to the action that expresses it. To this end the author employs a variety of standpoints and techniques, and taken together, these chapters present a lively and coherent view of Shakespeare's techniques, concerns, and development. This title will be of interests to students of literature and drama.

First published in 1977, the third edition of Pinter is an excellent analysis of Harold Pinter and his works. Written when Pinter was only a few plays old, the book draws on several sources, including interviews with Pinter himself, to comment on Pinter's career, his aesthetic and philosophical choices, and his oeuvre as a writer. The section devoted to his individual plays has been arranged in a chronological manner to visually represent the growth of the playwright and the relationship shared between his early and later works. Esslin, known for coining the term 'theatre of the absurd,' was himself an inspiration to Pinter and hence, the book records an intellectual and creative exchange between the author and his subject. The book will be of interest to students of literature, drama, history as well as to an academically inclined theatre audience.

First published in 1980, Mediations supplements, extends, and deepens Martin Esslin's earlier writings on Samuel Beckett and Bertolt Brecht. In the third section of this collection of essays, Esslin discusses the mass media as dramatic art and their effects - radio as a medium for drama; television's insatiable appetite for artistic skills, its commercials, and its series, which he labels modern folk epics. Intimately acquainted with the cultural implications of several languages and ideologies and with the possibility for distortion inherent in translating them, Esslin's Mediations gathers together decades of his rich experience and reflections on cross linguistic and artistic boundaries, as well as theatre. This book will be of interest to students of literature, drama, and media studies.

This volume presents a close reading of instances of Shakespearean quotations, allusions, imagery and rhetoric found in Karl Marx's collected works and letters, which provides evidence that Shakespeare's writings exerted a formative influence on Marx and the development of his work. Through a methodology of intertextual and interlingual close-reading, this study provides evidence of the extent to which Shakespeare influenced Marx and to which Marxism has Shakespearean roots. As a child, Marx was home-schooled in Ludwig von Westphalen's little academy, as it were, which was Shakespeare- and literary-focused. The group included von Westphalen's daughter, who later became Marx's wife, Jenny. The influence of Shakespeare in Marx's writings shows up as early as his school essays and love letters. He modelled his early journalism partly on ideas and rhetoric found in Shakespeare's plays. Each turn in the development of Marx's thought-from Romantic to Left Hegelian and then to Communist-is achieved in part through his use of literature, especially Shakespeare. Marx's mature texts on history, politics and economics-including the famous first volume of Das Kapital-are laden with Shakespearean allusions and quotations. Marx's engagement with Shakespeare resulted in the development of a framework of characters and imagery he used to stand for and anchor the different concepts in his political critique. Marx's prose style uses a conceit in which politics are depicted as performative. Later, the Marx family-Marx, Jenny and their children-was central in the late-19th-century revival of Shakespeare on the London stage, and in the growth of academic Shakespeare scholarship. Through providing evidence for a formative role of Shakespeare in the development of Marxism, the present study suggests a formative role for literature in the history of ideas.

Lorca in English examines the evolution of translations of Federico Garcia Lorca into English as a case of rewriting and manipulation through politically and ideologically motivated translation. As new translations of Federico Garcia Lorca continue to appear in the English-speaking world and his literary reputation continues to be rewritten through these successive re-translations, this book explores the reasons for this constant desire to rewrite Lorca since the time of his murder right into the 21st century. From his representation as the quintessential Spanish Republican martyr, to his adoption through translation by the Beat Generation, to his elevation to iconic status within the Queer Studies movement, this volume analyzes the reasons for this evolution and examines the current direction into which this canonical author is heading in the English-speaking world.

This book critically analyzes the body of English language translations Moliere's work for the stage, demonstrating the importance of rhyme and verse forms, the creative work of the translator, and the changing relationship with source texts in these translations and their reception. The volume questions prevailing notions about Moliere's legacy on the stage and the prevalence of comedy in his works, pointing to the high volume of English language translations for the stage of his work that have emerged since the 1950s. Adopting a computer-aided method of analysis, Ploix illustrates the role prosody plays in verse translation for the stage more broadly, highlighting the implementation of self-consciously comic rhyme and conspicuous verse forms in translations of Moliere's work by way of example. The book also addresses the question of the interplay between translation and source text in these works and the influence of the stage in overcoming formal infelicities in verse systems that may arise from the process of translation. In so doing, Ploix considers translations as texts in and of themselves in these works and the translator as a more visible, creative agent in shaping the voice of these texts independent of the source material, paving the way for similar methods of analysis to be applied to other canonical playwrights' work. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in translation studies, adaptation studies, and theatre studies

It's harder to kill people when there's a peace process on. Ulster Loyalist Alan Black is kept awake every night by his neighbour McCorrick's dog barking. To add to his difficulties, McCorrick refuses to acknowledge that he even owns a dog, let alone one that is creating a disturbance. In a Northern Ireland he barely recognises, where politics has proved just to be the continuation of war by other means, a disconsolate Alan sets out to rid himself of the incessant noise. As he seeks help from authority figures, he finally - as a very last resort - turns to the only voice he can really trust, Eamonn Holmes... Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the partition of Ireland and the foundation of Northern Ireland, Yes So I Said Yes is a blackly comic, ferocious, dystopian satire about what it's like to feel alone in a place where everyone else is conspiring to erase you and your history. This edition was published to coincide with the production at London's Finborough Theatre in November 2021.